[at-l] Mt Washington

[ellen at clinic.net (Bob C.)]

>"...the view from the Mt Washingtons observation deck is pretty socked in. The
>real note is a temp of 36 and winds over 40 mph."

I was on the summit last Saturday. Wind gusts were 60 mph, maybe higher.
Temperatures in the 30's. I was glad I hadn't walked up with a typical
ultralight pack.

 We drove up. Our trip was mostly for a family reunion at Dolly Copp at 1 p.m.
 Saturday. The summit was crystal clear at 9 a.m. So after camping Friday night,
 my wife and I drove up the auto road. Only to find the top of the mountain
 totally socked in.

 But the drive up was beautiful, and periodically on the summit, the winds
 lifted the clouds for a moment or two.

  My mother took us (her six kids) camping at Dolly Copp for two months each
  summer through the 30s, 40s and early 50s, except for a 3 or 4 year hiatus
  during WW II when she took a job as a shipyard machinist. She continued
  camping through the early 80s, (both the decade and her age) but most of us
  got caught up in earning a living, so didn't join her.

   Anyway, our family reunions ever since have mostly been at Dolly Copp.
   Thirty-six showed up this year. The original six, ages 67-76 -- and assorted
   children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, spouses and "friends."  Three of us
   still hike regularly. Three don't.

   My first "long distance" hike came at age 14, when I climbed the Imp to the
   east of Dolly Copp and came down Madison's Daniel Webster Scout Trail three
   or four days later.

   Trail connection? From the Carter-Moriah ridgeline to the summit of Madison,
   I was on and off the AT, though I had had only a vague knowledge of the
   existence of the Appalachian Trail at the time.

    Weary